Afghan Child Illegal International Adoption

This article describes a harrowing experience by the adoptee’s first cousin and wife trying to get back the child stolen from them. Read it in full.

A baby girl, 2 months old, survived a night raid , “a counterterrorism team of United States Army Rangers and partner forces descended onto a small village in the mountains of central Afghanistan, on a mission to capture or kill foreign fighters associated with Al Qaeda. ”

“Joshua Mast, a Marine captain and judge advocate general who was in Afghanistan as part of an interagency effort to evaluate civilian casualties, took a particular interest in her.”

“His lawyer would later tell a U.S. court that he “saw the writing on the wall” — that L., as an abandoned girl in Afghanistan, would be trafficked or trained as a child soldier.”

“With the help of Mast’s brother, Richard, an attorney with Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal-aid group affiliated with Liberty University, they made their appeal: The Masts wanted custody of the baby.”

“On Nov. 10, 2019, Moore approved an interlocutory adoption order for the Masts, the first step toward permanent adoption. That same day, the Commonwealth of Virginia issued a certificate of foreign birth for L. Her adoptive parents were listed as Joshua and Stephanie Mast.”

“Over the next three years, the case of Baby L. would expand into a legal battle over her adoption, allegations of a transnational child-abduction scheme in federal court and investigations by state and federal agencies. The U.S. government has stated that the adoption should not have happened.”

“Afghanistan is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, which sets standards on international adoption, but the former Afghan government had its own guardianship system that placed a child with relatives, or relied on a court to decide who her new family would be. Despite American interest, only 34 Afghan children have been adopted in the United States since 2001.”

Relatives Found

“An investigation by the Afghan authorities and the Red Cross led to two direct relatives: the baby’s maternal and paternal uncles. Each was Afghan, and each wanted to care for the baby. It also emerged that the baby had siblings who survived the attack and remained in the village. The State Department reviewed the investigation’s findings and on Jan. 5, 2020, sent a message to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs: “We stand ready to transfer custody of the infant.” According to Sadat, an Afghan court decided that L. would be placed in the care of her paternal uncle. The transfer date was set for Feb. 11.”

“Just hours before L. was to be removed from Bagram, Richard Mast argued before Norman Moon, a federal judge in the Western District of Virginia, that the Department of Defense and the State Department were handing L. over to someone who had not been properly vetted, who might potentially be a terrorist. He added that his brother was invested in the best interest of the child and was ready to care for her. The matter would be resolved quickly, Richard argued in the hearings, if the State Department “would just get out of the way.” One Justice Department lawyer responded that the custody order Mast had obtained was “deeply flawed and incorrect” — contrary to the court’s understanding, President Ghani never waived custody of the child.

Moon decided against the Masts. A private litigant couldn’t “determine the foreign policy of the United States,” he said. Joshua might have been unhappy with the results of the Afghan government’s investigation, Moon said, but he had no legal basis for bringing Baby L. to the United States. The transfer would proceed.”

“Her uncle, a white beard framing his narrow face, was waiting at the airport. As the passengers disembarked, he saw a small bundle of pink and started to cry. Boxes of baby supplies accompanied her from Bagram, bearing the name L. He didn’t know who that was. He called her by the name her parents had given her: R.”

“R. was with her family now, but her uncle was an elderly man. He had to consider how best to care for her. His son, who lived in a city with good hospitals, had just married. It wasn’t uncommon for families to collectively assume responsibility for a child, and after observing the baby in their care for several days, R.’s uncle decided that the young couple — John and Jane Doe, as they were later named in the federal suit they filed against Mast — would serve as her parents.”

“R. had been living with the Does for 10 months, but on Dec. 3, 2020, Judge Moore determined that she remained “orphaned, undocumented, stateless.” The waiver from President Ghani never came, but Moore granted the American couple permanent adoption. The Masts, he wrote, “are suitable parents and will provide the child with a loving and stable home.”

In Virginia, final adoption orders are binding after six months and can be challenged only by someone with an “actual relationship of parental responsibility.” Motley told me that Mast updated her when he obtained permanent adoption, but she did not inform the Does.”

“About half a year later, in the summer of 2021, Motley introduced the Does to Mast over the phone. An Afghan man who went by the name Ahmad Osmani was also present to interpret for him. The Does remember Osmani saying he lived outside Afghanistan and was married to a Turkish woman. Mast explained to the Does that he met R. when he was a volunteer at Bagram and that he wanted to help her.

“Why?” John Doe asked. For humanity, he remembered Mast saying.

Mast and Osmani began contacting John Doe frequently, encouraging him to come to the United States with the baby. According to the couple, Osmani said they could all stay with the Masts. The Does were facing financial troubles, and Osmani persuaded them to accept assistance; in late July, they received $1,000 by wire transfer. Jane Doe, though, was growing suspicious of Mast’s eagerness to help an Afghan family he’d never met. She suggested that John ask Osmani about the American privately. According to the couple, Osmani reassured them that he had worked for Mast for years, that Mast was a good person. “We didn’t trust Joshua,” John told me. “We trusted Ahmad because we knew him; he’s Afghan.”

Still, Mast and Motley’s warnings about the baby’s injuries had started to worry the Does. They admitted that the doctors they visited did not know what to make of the redness on her face. They had not scanned her brain for any lasting damage from her head wound. Had the doctors missed something?”

The Fall of Afghanistan

“In August 2021, the war’s front lines, which had been relegated to the hinterlands for much of the last two decades, were suddenly in major cities, and at the Does’ doorstep.”

John and Jane Doe fled to Kabul. Mast, through Osmani, guided them to a US Military plane that landed in Qatar.

“They were flown to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where they expected to meet Mast. To their surprise and confusion, his wife, Stephanie, was also waiting for them. The Does had hardly eaten since Kabul, and Jane’s back ached from the hours on the plane. Now they sat around a table. The Masts wanted to take the baby to the United States with them, Jane recalled Joshua saying. If R. went with them, her medical treatment and school would be free. Jane translated for her husband. “We don’t need money,” John said, angry.

Jane started crying, and Stephanie tried to comfort her. You will forget your last life when you come to the U.S., Jane remembered her whispering in her ear. “No, I don’t want to forget,” she replied. John tore off the bracelet that Afghan arrivals were required to wear on the base. They would return to Afghanistan, he said. Mast hurriedly called Osmani. According to John, Osmani told him that Jane had mistranslated — the Masts were only trying to help them because Jane was pregnant; they weren’t trying to take R. Mast added his own plea, invoking Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. I swear by them I will not harm you, the couple recall him saying.

The Masts flew back to the United States alone. Though Joshua had calmed the couple’s fears, Jane recalled an odd remark that Osmani’s sister made to her. While Jane was playing with R., the teenage girl asked why she was getting close to the baby when they would be separated soon. Jane was surprised. “Why will she be separated from me?” Jane said. “She’s my daughter.” The girl didn’t respond.”

They Arrive in the US

“Following Mast’s direction, the Does requested to be sent to Fort Pickett, 45,000 wooded acres in southeastern Virginia.”

“Three days after they arrived, on the afternoon of Sept. 3,” “knock sounded at the door. Two men in uniform told them to collect their items — they were being moved to a new apartment. The couple stuffed their belongings in their bags, Jane gathered R. in her arms and they walked out. On the street, a black van waited for them. Sitting inside next to an infant car seat was an American woman: an official from the State Department named Rhonda Slusher.

They drove around the base and stopped in front of a low building. Slusher insisted on holding R., Jane said, because she was pregnant. The Does couldn’t see any other Afghans or security guards, and they approached the building warily. They were led to a room with a desk and some chairs. A tall blond woman greeted them — another government official. An interpreter was also present. Neither of the Does remember what the official’s name was or what department she represented, but what she said next pierced their memory: This is not your child, she told them, gesturing to R.

John explained that R. was his cousin, and now his daughter. “I raised her for two years,” he said. But the official repeated the same thing: They were not the biological parents of the child, and therefore they could not keep her.

John was confused and started to panic. He tried calling Mast, the only American he knew, but there was no answer. And then, suddenly, Mast entered the room. John rushed to him. “What is this lady telling me?” he asked in English, desperate. Mast, the Does recalled, said he came because he had received an email: He had to take the child from the base, or she would be sent to an orphanage. Don’t worry, the Does recalled Mast saying. We are family. He would sort everything out.

Jane ran to Slusher, the State Department official, who was still holding R. “Please, give my daughter,” Jane pleaded. According to the Does, Slusher refused. R. was wailing now, and Slusher led her out of the room, the pink pig still in her hand.

Jane screamed and fell to the ground. John grabbed Mast’s arm. “You told me you are my brother,” he said. “Why are you doing this to me?” John Doe told me that Mast stepped hard on his foot and shoved him away. Then he left the room.”

“On Oct. 25,[2021] the Does approached Martha Jenkins, a lawyer working with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at Fort Pickett who was helping to run information sessions for those arriving from Afghanistan. Jenkins’s supervisor was also present and went to higher-ups at the Conference, as well as to the Marine Corps and government agencies. The issue “kept getting kicked down the road,” Jenkins told me. “Everyone had sympathy but no direction, nothing to be done.” After a few days, Jenkins told me, she and the supervisor heard back from someone who looked into the matter: “The Masts really covered their bases.”

They encouraged the Does to reach out to Motley, the American lawyer in Afghanistan, whom the couple had not spoken to since August. Perhaps she had not known what Mast would do, Jenkins reasoned. “The person who is introduced to us by you, by the name of Joshua Mast” took R. “from us by force,” the Does wrote in a WhatsApp message. “You are the one who knows about our story and we kindly requesting you to help us please.” Motley did not respond. Motley told me that Mast informed her R. was with him and that she didn’t ask for more details. She texted the Does months later; she didn’t do so immediately because, she explained, she was receiving hundreds of requests for help from Afghans in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal.”

Vacate the Adoption Order

“Last December, Vaughan, the adoption lawyer in Virginia, filed a petition on behalf of the Does to vacate the Masts’ adoption order. ”

The Does have their home in Texas.

“An investigator from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has been looking into whether Mast, who has been promoted from captain to major in the last three years, mishandled classified information. The Does’ team of lawyers has grown to more than 15, all working pro bono.

On Sept. 2,[2022] the Does filed a lawsuit in a federal court against Joshua, Stephanie and Richard Mast; Osmani, the interpreter; and Motley, the lawyer. It accuses them variously of conspiracy, fraud and false imprisonment of a child.”

“Though the Masts have since moved to North Carolina, to a town near the coast, the case over who should have legal custody of R. continues in Fluvanna County, Va. ”

“The Virginia case will probably be decided this month, before Judge Moore’s scheduled retirement. Any decision will most likely be appealed by the losing party. The court appointed a new guardian ad litem for these proceedings, even though the questions at hand are about whether Mast adopted the child through fraud and whether the court had authority to grant that adoption, not who should have the child.”

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